1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention is saliva sampling devices.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The current literature indicates saliva is used to conveniently, easily, safely and effectively test an individual for a variety of medical conditions. These tests for medical conditions include a hepatis screening for restaurant employees, HIV, continue (nicotine) and cocaine screening by insurance companies and a five minute HIV screening by a dentist. Clinics for oncology, neurology, infertility, allergy orthopedic and pain which had used urine, blood and serum samples to determine the medical conditions of their patients are now using samples of saliva for this same purpose.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,150,950 teaches a sampling device which includes a container, a seal, a screw-cap, an elongated element and a specimen collector. The container has a liquid reagent which the seal seals into the bottom portion thereof capable of preserving the activity of a particular specimen. The specimen collector is attachable to the inside of the screw cap through the elongated element which is of sufficient length to immerse the specimen collector into the liquid. After a specimen has been obtained, the specimen collector, which is attached to the screw cap, is forced through the seal into the liquid preservative as the screw cap is fastened tightly onto the container.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,774,962 teaches a method of extracting human saliva in which a resilient absorbent inert body is chewed by a person and is subsequently introduced into a centrifuge tubule provided with an apertured floor. The centrifuge tubule is introduced into a centrifuge and subjected to a spinning process, whereupon the saliva is pressed out of the resilient body and passes through the floor into the lower part of the centrifuge tubule.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,992,296 teaches a drug abuse test papers which are bibulous paper carriers which have been impregnated with specific test chemicals, including bismuth subnitrate, potassium iodide, acetic acid, and platinum salt, in two coatings and dried after each coating under specific temperature conditions. The test chemicals are provided for the detection of the drug abuse compounds of amphetamine, cocaine, marijuana, and narcotics contained in low concentrations in animal or human urine.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,635,488 teaches a body fluid sampling device which includes a hollow tube with a solid, porous, water-wettable nonfibrous nib mounted in and protrudes from one end of the tube for collecting, by absorption, a sample of a body fluid such as sweat, tears, or saliva. The sample may be extracted from the nib for analysis by supplying an extraction fluid to the interior of the tube for gravity. Alternatively, a strip of paper, which contains an agent that changes appearance to indicate the presence of a substance to be detected, may be disposed in the hollow tube for endwise contact with the nib to receive the sample or components thereof by absorption.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,418,702 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,580,577 teach a method for collecting saliva from a test subject which includes providing a flavored absorbent sponge for mastication and charging it with saliva and then expressing the saliva from the flavored absorbent sponge. The apparatus for this method includes a barrel-piston arrangement in association with a specimen vial for storage until diagnostic testing.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,817,632 teaches an oral fluid collection article for placement in the buccal cavity of an individual for the collection and filtering of a saliva fluid. The collection article has a semi-permeable membrane container enclosing an osmotic membrane.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,607,009 teaches an assay for determining the Lewis blood group of a patient which consists of testing a body sample for the presence of Lewis antigens. Monoclonal antibodies specific for either of these antigens are employed which do not cross-react with other related antigens. Body samples which may be tested include saliva, serum, urine, and paraffin-embedded tissue samples.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,720,455 teaches a test kit of several reagents, test tubes and a dip-stick carrying an anti-progesterone monoclonal antibody. U.S. Pat. No. 4,722,889 teaches a reagent kit is provided for assay of a selected antigen in an aliquot of body fluid.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,769,216 teaches a test kit which is used in detecting or determining the presence of antigenic or haptenic substances or antibodies in a sample. The test kit includes a plurality of tubular or capillary elements, each having antibodies or antigenic or haptenic substances attached to an internal surface thereof, and mechanism for causing fluids to pass simultaneously or sequentially through the plurality of capillary elements.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,771,486 teaches a sputum sampling device having capability for sputum-saliva separation which includes a substantially circular cup having a wall portion which tapers inwardly from top to bottom, a separation plate having a substantially elliptical planar confiuration, the major and minor axis of the plate being dimensioned to allow insertion of the plate down into the cup at a slant to position the lower portion of the plate a distance above the bottom of the cup, a plurality of apertures formed in the lower portion of the plate to provide saliva drainage ports, and an upper portion of the plate comprising a roughened textured surface for retracting and holding sputum in position for recovery in order to obtain a sensory and microbiological examination.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,853,325 teaches a saliva test for feline leukemia virus (FeLV) which includes a probe which has an immunochemically sensitive member for collecting saliva from the oral cavity of a cat. The probe employs ELISA reagents for the incubation of the probe and the development of color reactions to indicate the presence or absence of FeLV within the saliva sample collected onto the probe.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,468,470 teaches a method for the assay of antibodies to soluble antigens in an aqueous sample in body fluids, such as blood serum or blood plasma, by contacting the sample with an antigen in vitro. The antibodies, if present, are bound by the antigens.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,929,544 teaches that human cancer is diagnosed/monitored by measuring an antigen level in a physiological fluid specimen of a subject by a quantitative immunoassay. That antigen level is then compared to the antigen level of that occurs in corresponding physiological fluid of normal subjects to determine whether the former is substantially elevated over the latter.